"Big Brother" is a long-running reality show on CBS where a group of contestants known as houseguests enter a house in Los Angeles, without being able to leave, or have contact with the outside world, and be monitored by cameras 24/7 while they compete in challenges, form alliances, and vote each other out of the house in the hopes of winning the $500,000 grand prize. They are not allowed to leave the house or its' backyard for any reason, they cannot see or read magazines or newspapers, no radios, no computers, no phones, no I pods or MP3 players and only the HOH is given a small portable CD player to listen to CD's left in the HOH room for them.HOH stands for the Head of Household and once every week the guests in the house compete to try and win HOH and all the perks that go along with being the HOH for the week. The HOH gets' their own private bedroom with a private bathroom, a huge bed, a small refrigerator and stuff sent to them by family and friends like, letters, pictures, CD's and food. Also every week the current HOH must select 2 houseguests to be put up on the block to be voted on to be evicted from the house that week. Once a week 6 of the houseguests to include the HOH and the 2 nominees get to compete for the coveted Veto Award. The person who wins the Veto can elect to remove one of the nominees from the chopping block to include themselves if they are on the block. If one of the nominees is removed from the block then the HOH must immediately replace that nominee with a new houseguest. Every week the houseguests one by one go into the secluded and soundproof diary room to make their selection on who they would like to see leave the house that week. The 2 houseguests on the block and the HOH cannot vote but in case of a tie the HOH would then vote to break the tie live. Once the votes are all in then the Host of the show Julie Chen announces to the houseguests the final results and the evicted houseguest has one minute to say goodbye and leave the house. The show begins with anywhere between 15 and 20 houseguests each season. Once there is only 9 houseguests remaining in the house then the voted out houseguests from that point on after leaving the house are sequestered to a 2nd house called the Jury House. When the original house only has 2 guests remaining in the house then the 7 sequestered contestants are asked to vote for the person they wish to win the $500,000.00 grand prize. Big Brother airs 3 times a week on Sunday at 8 PM ET/PT, Wednesday at 8 PM ET/PT and Thursday at 9 PM ET/PT. The Thursday night's show is almost always a live "Eviction" show and is presented by the Host of the series, the beautiful Julie Chen.

Rob Owen

David Zurawik

In all but one or two cases, if I were seated with one of these people on a plane, I'd ask to be moved next to a crying baby or a drunk. What CBS has done here is cast this house with people who resemble the stock types we have come to know from prime-time sitcoms and dramas for 50 years. [6 Jul 2000]

Matthew Gilbert

So far, and that's an important qualification, watching "Big Brother" is only slightly more exciting than watching a drugstore surveillance tape. One week in, CBS's five-nights-a-week series remains slow, self-conscious, and visually sterile. [13 Jul 2000]

Laura Fries

"Big Brother" debuted Wednesday night with all of the style and drama of a Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol commercial. ... Five days a week of people in a cramped house full of Ikea furniture is like a bad college flashback. [10 Jul 2000]

David Bianculli

Verne Gay

Airing five nights a week and featuring 10 strangers - not to mention insufferable hosts Julie Chen and Ian O'Malley - this will fill our screens for the next three months. Unless we happen to leave the set turned off. Which, judging from last night, might be advisable. [6 Jul 2000]

Tim Kiska

Joel Brown

'Big Brother' ... is such a demeaning, depressing exercise that everyone involved ought to be lashed to one of the Pentagon's defective 'Star Wars' missiles and rocketed out over the Pacific, never to be heard from again, except by the sharks. [2 Aug 2000]